Onion topping device



8, 1947- 0. 'r. BARRETT ETAL v 2,414,922

ofi on TOPBING DEVICE Fi-1 ed Jan. 3, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTO RS OTTO T. BARRETT WILLIAM E. PILLIAR ATTORNE S o. T. BARRETT ETAI.

Jan. 28, 1947.

ONION TOPPING DEVICE Filed Jan. 3, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IINVENTORS OTTO T. BARRETT BVIILLIAM E. PILLIAR f 3 ATTOR YS Patented Jan. 28, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ONION TO'PPING DEVICE Otto '1. Barrett and William E. Piliiar, Salinas, Calif., assignors to Otto T. Barrett and William E. Pilliar, as trustees Application January 3, 1945, Serial No. 571,144 7 is effected by means of a plurality of cutter bars 16 and feeder rolls ll alternately arranged longitudinally of the frame (see Figs.1 and 6) As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the discharge of the It is an object of this invention to provide an treated onions may be picked up by any convenapparatus which will materially speed up the tional conveyor means such as the belt 19 and separation of stems and bulbs at a greatly reduced tran ported to storage or sacking facilities. cost of operation. It is an additional object of The characteristics of the feeder rolls employed the invention to provide a device of the character in this machine can be best understood by referdescribed which will affect separation of stem and 10 ence to Fig. 4, wherein the body of the roll is inbulb without damage or injury to the marketable dicated as being an elongated cylinder 2B having portion of the produce and which, at the same closed ends and stub shafts 2i projectin from time, will seal off the bulb tube in the manner reeach of such ends for journaling in bearings 22 quired by the practice of the industry and, in some disposed in the crossbars of the frame lil (see instances, by regulation with a view to improving Fig. 6). the keeping quality of the onion. Additionally, it will be noted that the feeder These and other objects of the invention will rolls I! are each provided with a pair of spirals become more apparent as this specification pro- 25 which serve to progress the onions from intake ceeds, and the novelty of the device will be pointed end to discharge end of the mechanism, and the out in the appended claims with the requisite desaid spirals have the added function of coactins gree of particularity. witha blade on the cutter bar It to effect a In the drawings forming a part hereof shearin of the onion top from the bulbs.

Figure 1 is a top plan View ofan onion topper The cutter bars l6 are best understood from embodying the principles of the invention, Figs. 3 and -6 wherein it will be noted that the Figure 2 is a side elevation of the device of Fig- 25 bar assembly is triangular in cross-section. The ure 1. assembly includes rigid plate members 28 and 29 Figure 3 is a perspective view of one of the cutoppositely arranged on a plurality of spacer memter bars utilized in the device. bers 3B and to which they may be welded. Se-

Figure 4 is a perspective view of one of the cured on the face of the plate .29 there is a blade feeder rolls employed in the device. a 3.0 bar 3| having a pered and sharpened leadin Figure 5 i an end elevation of the machine edge 6 projecting considerably beyond the bot showing the drive mechanism employed. tom edge of the plate 29. In order to protect the Figure 6 is a fragmentary enlarged end elevabulb of the onion we provide a wooden cover board tion showing the relative positions of the cutter 33 for blade bar 31, and the two elements, that is, bars and the feeder rolls, and 35 the blade bar 3| and the cover board 33, may be Figure 7 is a modification of the device of Figsecured to plate 29 in any manner such s by ure 1. bolts 34. On the opposite side of the triangle we The onion topper forming the subject matter of p ovi e a sheet metal shield 35 as a means o p this application has been. designed for stationary venting the onion from falling between the feeder use; that is to say, in the packin sheds or it may rolls l1 and the cutter bars it. be mounted upon a conveyance and used in the As will e noted from Fig. 6, the cutter bars fields as an incident of the harvesting or gatherare yieldably mounted in relation to the feeder ing of the onions. The embodiment of the inr lls- The mount employed hereinv consists in a vention described and illustrated herein utilizes link 40 having one end forked as t ll to n e a. main frame l0 supported in inclined relation to 4.5 one of the retainer bolts 32 for end bearings .22 the ground surface upon conventional legs H and its other end bent at an angle for connecand [2. At its upper or feed end the device .is protion to .one ,of the spacer members so in the out vided with a hopper !3 having a slatted bottom .I 4 ter bar assembly by any means, such as the bolt for the screening out of any foreign matter de- 44. It will thus be seen that thecutter bars I5 p d therein h h S pp y of 01110115 are free to rock on the bearing point provided e h pper I3 is mounted for vertical, recipby the bolt 4.4. The cutter bars are yieldably held rocatory motion to facilitate the screening out of downwardly for contact of the cutting edge 25 foreign matter, as will be more fully Xplained at of blade 3| and spirals 25 by means of rod 41 a 1ater point in this specification. and the coil spring 48. Rod 41 has an in-turned The actual separation of onion bulbs and stems toe 49 engaging a lug 5i! on the cutter bar as- 3 sembly and extends through an ear 5| on the crossbar member of frame l0, being provided at its lower end with the coil spring 48 disposed thereon between the ear 5| and a washer 52, the latter being secured by a wing nut 53. The rocking of the cutter bar assembly E6 on the mount thus described is effected by a pair of cams 32 oppositely arranged at 180 at each end of the rolls 29, as will be brought out in the description of the operation of the device.

The drive means employed in connection with the presently disclosed embodiment of the invention contemplates the synchronized rotation of all of the feeder rolls H in relation to the stationary cutter bar assemblies l8. As seen in Fig. 5, a pulley 55 on shaft 56, suitably journaled in a bearing member 57 on a cross bar 53 between the legs i2, is connected with any suitable source of power (not shown) by a belt 59. The speed of this drive is reduced by a smaller pulley 60 on shaft 56 and from thence transmitted by a belt 6| to pulley 62 on shaft 63 in bearing member 64 on the opposite end of the cross bar 58. Shaft 63 may, if desired, be provided with any conventional clutching and de-clutching mechanism (not shown). Power taken off of shaft 63 is transmitted by sprocket El and chain 68 to a sprocket 99 keyed on the stub shaft 2| of one of the feeder rolls if. As indicated in Fig. 5, each of the stub shafts 2| is provided with a large sprocket l0 and a smaller sprocket H for interconnection and synchronization of the drive of the feeder rolls through chains 72 and 73, respectively.

In the form illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2,the hopper l3 as hereinabove stated, is adapted for vertical, reciprocatory motion to agitate the onions and screen out therefrom all foreign matter. In this form the point of anchorage of the hopper is the single bolt Tl connecting the lower end of the side blade 18 of the said hopper with the side member 19 on frame If). Vibratory motion is imparted to the hopper by means of the cams 83 keyed on the stub shafts 21 of the feeder rolls I I, the cams bearing on a bar 8| extending transversely of the bottom of the hopper IS. A rise on the order of 1%.inches has been found sufficient to impart the desired agitation of the hopper contents.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 7, hopper I3 has been eliminated and the companion feeder rolls H and cutter bar assemblies it have been lengthened to simply increase the period during which the onions are subjected to the combined action of the feeder rolls H and the cutter bars it. In this modification side members T9 are likewise extended the full length of the apparatus and, if desired, a rigid hopper such as that illustrated at 85 may be added at the intake end of the device.

The operation of the device is as follows:

Unstemmed onions are fed into the hopper I3, and the latter is vibrated by means of the cams 80 to screen out foreign matter through its slatted bottom I i. Agitation of hopper l3, and the inclination of frame member ill, causes the onions to progress toward the bottom of alternately arranged feeder rolls l1 and cutter bar assemblies IS. The spirals 25 on the feeder rolls I I bear against the cutter 26 in the cutter bar assembly [6 and urge the onions against cover board 33 in that assembly, much as a worm conveyor. Twice in each revolution of feeder rolls I! cams 32 will contact blade 26 and rock the cutter bar assembly M5 on its pivot point at bolt M and against the tension of the coil spring 68 to separate cutter bar 26 from its contact with spirals 25. In this periodic operation of the spirals 25 and the blade 25 an opening is created permitting the onion tops to be drawn under the edge of blade 26 and as the knife assembly i6 drops from the high point of cams 32, the spirals 25 and the blades 26 will affect a shearing of the said top from the bulb of the onion. Once this operation has taken place the detopped onion will simply roll downwardly in the slot defined by cover board 33 and the face of the feeder roll 11, the spirals 25 of which then functions as a worm conveyor.

In the modification shown in Fig. 7 the topping action of the mechanism is identical with that of the device in Fig. 1 just described, being merely prolonged.

It will be appreciated that changes may be effective in the machine shown and described herein without departing from the spirit of the invention, and hence full protection is desired Within the scope of the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:

1. An onion topping device comprising, a frame, a plurality of alternately arranged cutter bars and feeder rolls disposed longitudinally in the frame, said cutter bars normally bearing upon the feeder rolls but rockably and yieldably mounted in relation thereto, and means carried by the feeder rolls for periodically rocking the cutter bars to break their contact with the feeder rolls.

2. An onion topping device comprising, a frame, a cutter bar rockably mounted on the frame, a feeder roll rotatably supported on the frame, spiral projections on the feeder rolls against which the cutter bar normally bears to produce a shearing cut, and cam means carried by the feeder rolls to rock the cutter bar and separate the latter from the spiral projections on the feeder roll.

3. An onion topping device comprising, a frame, a cutter bar rockably and yieldably mounted on the frame, spiral projections on the feeder roll against which the cutter bar normally bears to produce a shearing cut, and means carried by the feeder roll to periodically rock the cutter bar away from the spiral projection on the feeder roll to provide a slot therebetween through which the onion tops may be fed.

4. An onion topping device comprising, a frame, a cutter bar, an arm on the cutter bar pivotally connected to the frame, a rod connected to said cutter bar and having a yieldable connection with said frame, a feeder roll rotatably supported on the frame parallel to the cutter bar, spiral projections on the feeder roll against which the cutter bar normally bears to affect a shearing cut, and cam means carried by the feeder roll to periodically rock the cutter bar away from the spiral projection to provide a slot therebetween through which the onion tops may be fe OTTO T. BARRETT. WILLIAM E. PILLIAR. 

